Monday, March 30, 2009

Let me start from the beginning because I just realized I haven't really blogged about this gigantic event. So I received a call on March 7 asking if I would be chairperson of the bluegrass fundraiser festival. The details that I received that day were as follows:1. I would work with another person (that person had not been ask yet).2. That person and I would set up 5 committees to implement the plan that we would come up with.3. Those 5 committees would have a chairperson each and we would be over those people.4. The 5 committees would be Food, Publicity, Grounds, Volunteers, and Entertainment.

So what did I say? Of course, I said yes. I did not know at that time what I was getting into.

My partner ended up being a girl named Shannon with which I had only had a little contact. It was a perfect match. We worked for weeks trying to get everything together. The committees didn't work out that well. We had several people tell us they were going to head up committees or take care of things that never was completed. So we just started hacking through ourselves. Another girl, Kerri, came on in the last 2 weeks and between the three of us this is the result.

The pictures you are about to see were taken by a bluegrass friend, Jeff Catlin. He is a wonderful photographer and you can go here and see more of his awesome pictures.The festival was supposed to be at a place called Willow Creek Ranch (outdoors) but it poured for 3 days before the festival. We changed the location to a huge barn in our local state park (which is only a mile from my house. It is called Table Rock State Park and the ranger is a friend of ours. This was the entrance to the festival.This is a picture of the man the festival was named after. It was call the Papa John Foster Memorial Music Festival. He was a big supporter of all our youth learning to play the traditional music of our mountains. He died in June. The poem was written by one of the fiddlers (teenager) and this picture was presented to his family.This was at the very beginning of the festival. The barn filled up really fast and we figured that we ended up with about 500 people coming in throughout the day.

This is some of the YAMs getting tuned up on the back porch. There was also a funnel cake man in the corner (that is the reason for the tables).I love this picture of Gabe.This is our group of elementary school YAMs. There is also a smaller group called the YAM band that does all the performance outside our area. Gabe is the band and the even smaller group that they take other places.

A few more pictures of my favorite YAM.There was also a tribute to two of the instructors, Dan and Normah. The picture that was presented to them was drawn by one of our local art teachers who retired a few years back. You can't tell much about the drawing but it was beautiful.

This little girl, plays the big bass and the guitar and at the moment seems to be Gabe's girlfriend. Although neither of them will admit it. But they won't deny it either.This was one of the last bands to play and by far my favorite. They are called Tucker's Town (from Hootie and the Blowfish) and were more contemporary. The girl playing the bass is Papa John's granddaughter and she has a beautful voice. I am lookin forward to hearing them again.

We had a very successful day and I was exhausted when I finally made it home. We stayed at the barn for 12 hours on Saturday (this included set up and clean up) but it was well worth it. I haven't heard the final count on how much money we made but I know that it was well over $3000. I finally a bit more rested (after a nap on Monday afternoon) so I'm ready to start planning for next year. More important than the money, was that I made several new friends who will be friends for life (especially Shannon and Kerri.) We are having a big party to celebrate our success on April 19. So there will be more pictures to come.

I am tired and bluegrass is consuming our lives. I will post more about the big festival (which was a huge success). I am waiting on pictures from a bluegrass friend, who takes millions. So I only took about 3. I was very busy and didn't sit down the whole day. But I will give you all the details and tell you all about it soon. Now back to my funk. I can't seem to get it together to blog. I have lots I want to say. It is just finding the time (with no interruptions). This never happens. We are taking the weekend and going to Savannah (no kids) so maybe when I get back I will be more refreshed and ready to settle into a better routine. Spring Break starts Friday and I am looking forward to that. So just wanted you all to know I haven't forgotten about you we are just very, very busy and I am a little worn down. So pray for me and I promise I will get to the blogging shortly.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

It is pouring rain today and I am making phone calls. I have been working on the bluegrass festival for weeks now and we still don't have enough volunteers. At this point (the festival is Saturday) we will have to make do with what we have and hope for the best. I guess the coordinators will have to take up the slack (unfortunately for me and my family). Anyway, in the middle of all the chaos, I didn't get a chance to post about Maci Clare's second birthday. She turned two on Monday.

My dad insisted she have a Spongebob cake (I hate Spongebob) so he gave that to her on Sunday.She started digging her fingers in the icing as soon as the box was open. This cake was actually 24 cupcakes. Really good to look at but not so good to eat. It was very messy.I couldn't get anyone to cooperate for a picture. Too many goofy faces. But Maci Clare loved the Spongebob.

I made a sheep cake. Much better than Spongebob for a second birthday. We had a little party on Monday night. My parents came and Jim's mom came via video conferencing. It was great that she got to participate even though she is miles and miles away.I couldn't get this picture to flip but this is Maci Clare blowing out her candles. She blew them out about 6 times because we kept trying to get a picture and she was much too fast for Jim.

Jack grabbed my camera and caught this picture of my dad. It is a little fuzzy but doesn't he look like he is having a good time?

Jack was right on top of Maci Clare while she was opening all her presents so it was hard to get a good one of her.Her face looked like this as she opened every present.Anyway, it was small and family only but we did have fun even though it was no big deal.And after two days of partying, she was worn out. So she snuggled down in my bed with her new Dora pjs and it wasn't long before I found her like this.Happy 2nd Birthday, Baby Girl!

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

I made a decision that has not been very popular in our house. I have turned off all electronics during the week. No videos, video games, computer or TV. We are at the beginning of the second week of this new rule. And it is great! I kinda lost it and had enough of being ignored because everyone's heads were stuck to screens (which makes me invisible you know.) So I lost it last week and you know what? It is working. We are getting things done that need to be done.Another great thing that has come from this is PLAY. Can you imagine? Play without any electonics. We have made Lego space ships and even played outside until dark. I am sticking with this rule even through the summer.Monday, when the kids were out of school, we decided since it was raining to go do something fun. There is a new McDonald's in a neighboring town with a great indoor playground. Being in a different county, those kids had to go to school. We had the whole playground to ourselves. It was great. We played for about an hour and then headed out. On the way home we decided to go check out the World Of Energy. (This is a museum type thing that is at the Nuclear Plant) It was great!

They have a little area just for kids. (This has been recently added. It wasn't there last time we were there.) They had a small table with several activities and 3 video games that related to energy. Jack put together several puzzles. The other three built towers with Brio Blocks.

Then we found this and Zane was totally fascinated.You can walk through the whole building and you push buttons and it turns on videos and other things and tells you about how the nuclear plant generates power. It started out in a room that looks like you are in space. I couldn't get a good picture. But you get the idea.The little kids would've been bored quickly but we kept moving. Most of the pictures I took turned out pretty blurry because of the crazy lights. It helped that there were not many people there. We had a lot of fun and I got this picture at the end of the walk through tour in front of the fish pond. I love this picture because everyone is smiling. The picture is a little fuzzy but I still like it. We had a fun day with no TV. We did watch "The Secret Life of Bees" on Monday night. This movie was great but not really a kid movie. It was a little deep for the kids. And the language wasn't great either.To end this post, Iwant to share a short story about Zane and no tv. Zane loves movies and he was probably the one most affected by this unplugging. But I knew that I had made the right decision after Zane told me this.Zane's friend that he takes guitar lessons with on Thursdays got into some trouble at school last week. His mom chewed him out all the way to guitar and Zane was in the car with them. The mom told her son that he wouldn't be allowed to watch any tv or play any video games for the week. The son was very upset. But Zane, trying to comfort him, said, "It's really not that bad. We don't get to watch tv or play any video games on school days. You can always read a book." So I guess they do get it!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

We had a visit from a leprechaun last night. I always had leprechauns come to my classroom but never at home. Imagine our surprise when we woke up to a mess in our house. The plan was to catch him in this trap.The kids were really excited as you can see. We put a gold coin on the top so when he reached for it he would fall through the trap door on top.

Unfortunately, we didn't catch him. This is the way he left the house.The couch and chair were turned around. Furniture was flipped over.

And it wasn't just the living room. The kitchen, too.

The table was a mess. There were cookie crumbs everywhere. (We baked oatmeal cookies with green sugar sprinkles.) He left half eaten chocolate and you can't see it in the picture. But he took my decorator gel (green, of course) and wrote "Good Try", Maybe Next Year", "You Can't Catch Me" "Ha Ha" And on the island he wrote "Happy St. Patrick's Day"Apparently, he fell into our box because the chocolate coin was in there along with several Rolos. The coin had been nibbled so it must have taken him a while to figure out how to get out. But he did it.I forgot to take a picture of the green water in the toilets. The kids decided that the leprechaun peed in all the toilets (you know they pee green.)He left a rhyming scavenger hunt and the kids had to follow these balloons to find the treat he left.And he left the treats in their shoes. The shoes were scattered all over the hall and filled with chocolates.After we cleaned up the mess, we had green pancakes to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Hope everyone had as much fun as we did.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

It is finally here. The first of 2 (maybe more) giveaways. Anyone who has or knows a little girl will love this. I have given bows away before but I decided to do it again. So here is what you get.Since Spring is just around the corner. This is what I made.Of course, Maci Clare has one of each too. The yellow and black one is a bumblebee (complete with wings, eyes and antennae) So, go on! Leave me a comment and you will be entered. If you blog about this giveaway, I'll enter your name twice. I am only leaving the comments open until Tuesday morning so hurry and enter. Good luck!

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

That's right! As in Martha Stewart. Martha has the "cookie of the month" thing and I so did bake cookies from scratch yesterday. It just so happened that I had all the ingredients on hand to make Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Apricots and White Chocolate. Doesn't that sound complicated and impressive and oh, so Martha? And for those of you who know me and know that I only use Pillsbury Ready to Bake, I took a picture. I knew you wouldn't believe me without a picture. So there. And they are so ugly. Just like homemade cookies are supposed to be. So that's what I did yesterday afternoon.

I did make a Publix run with some great deals but I'm too lazy to post it. Just know that I had a $60 total for $40 OOP. WE took a little walk down to the horse barn by our house yesterday. The horses are our closest neighbors. So we went and played with them a little while. It was 87 degrees. Northerners, don't hate me! I'm ready to open the pool now (not to swim but just to relax by the water.)I had some issues at Walgreen's again this morning. It seems I always have trouble there but I keep going back. They were out of the diapers that I went in to get so I decided to just use my RR on some other things. I bought the Fusion Razor and the Lysol Wipes. My total was $8.90 after coupons. I gave her my $6RR and the register wouldn't accept it. So I just said forget it and gave her a gift card. (because I knew I could use it when I go back to get the diapers and I will push it then.) So then it wouldn't take my gift card. So I just paid the cash and left. I did get another $4RR so when I go back I will have $10 and a gift card. Diapers will be free. And I will push them to use the RRs.This weekend will be busy again. My boy is going to be on national television. They are filming an episode of Wife Swap at a local farm and the little bluegrass group that played on local tv has been asked to play. So we are headed out to that in the afternoon. Zane won the Pinewood Derby again so he has the district Derby on Saturday morning. So another busy weekend. I should've posted about Zane but I was cheating on Blogger with Facebook and Facebook got all the attention. So I might just do a Pinewood post later this week. Now I guess my rambling is through. Aren't you glad? (If you made it to the end, I promise the giveaway is coming. I'll give you a hint. It is more than one thing and both of the things are things I am making. I just have to finish them. That is why I haven't posted the giveaway yet.)

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Today is my birthday. I am 39 years old. Only one year from 40. It seems like yesterday that I was 16 and I always thought people who were 30 were old. Well, guess what? I'm getting old.Anyway, this morning, Maci Clare and I decided to do a little freebie shopping. And I think we did pretty good.First we hit CVS. I had to get a prescription filled anyway. (BTW, the prescription was only $3.21, which I could not believe.) So here's what we got:

Next, we went to Walgreen's. Here's how we did:2 boxes of Fiber One Granola Bars2 boxes of Starbuck's Chocolate1 box of envelopes6 bars of Dove soap1 bottle of Vaseline Intensive Care Rescue Lotion

TOTAL=$26.12 OOP=$10.55 I got $6 back in RR to use on my next order.I am going to go back tonight and try to buy some more Starbuck's chocolates, soap, and lotion and maybe granola bars.

Yes, it did finally snow here but we only got about 1 inch. This was a very little amount compared to some places around here (right down the road from here was 3 inches or more.) So there was no school Monday. We didn't play in the snow. The kids didn't seem interested believe it or not and I didn't push it because it would have been really wet and nasty. We did, however, collect snow for my favorite winter treat. SNOW CREAM!

Maci Clare ended up with hers in a cup because she kept trying to tip the bowl up and drink out of it.

Gabe poured tons of chocolate syrup in his (and ruined it in my opinion).Jack is just being goofy!Zane was too!This is what it looked like outside so you see I wasn't exaggerating when I said we really didn't get that much snow. I think the kids just enjoyed the peace and rest. We also lost power for quite a while so we had lots of rest time.

I have not forgotten about the giveaway just having a hard time trying to make time to get to it. But I promise it is coming. Jim and I are going to Atlanta on Saturday afternoon and spend the night (another trip to IKEA, YAY!) So I will try to post the giveaway before I leave.